The invention relates to a hood hinge for a front hood of a vehicle with a lifting actuator which raises the front hood in the event of an imminent collision with a pedestrian for reasons of pedestrian protection to thereby reduce the kinetic energy of a pedestrian colliding with the front hood.
DE 10 2009 040 398 A1 discloses a hood hinge for a vehicle hood with pedestrian protection and includes a hinge lower part for attachment to a vehicle body and a hinge upper part for attachment to the vehicle hood and link lever for connection of the hinge lower part with the hinge upper part, with a lifting actuator being movably mounted to the hinge hood for lifting the hinge upper part and prevented by a releasable fixing element in its movement relative to the hinge. This fixing element separates from the lifting actuator, when the hood hinge is compressed beyond its rest position. In the event of an active impact, in which the lifting actuator is triggered, the fixing element fixes the lifting actuator, so that a stroke of the lifting actuator can be used to lift the vehicle hood. In the event of a passive impact, in which the lifting actuator is not triggered, but the hinge is compressed, the fixing element separates from the lifting actuator which is no longer prevented in its displacement and thus can yield in response to the force exerted by the impact and dive down accordingly. Thus, the lifting actuator can no longer hinder the deformation path of the vehicle hood.
Following an active impact which triggers the displacement actuator and causes the engine hood to be raised, the driver can continue driving only with limited visibility. DE 10 2009 040 413 A1 proposes therefore to provide for a hood hinge for a vehicle hood with pedestrian protection and a displacement actuator a connecting device, with which a detachable and re-connectable coupling can be realized between an upper hinge upper part and a lower hinge upper part, so that the engine hood after being lifted can move back to its original position and can be fixed in this position by this connecting device.
It is an object of the invention to provide a hood hinge for a front hood of a vehicle with a lifting actuator which hood hinge is improved over the prior art.